Chosen Lineage
by Selene467
Summary: Yugi and Atem said goodbye. When Yugi starts acting weird, his friends worry. Yugi says it's not about Atem, but can't explain his behaviour. And when Yugi gets kidnapped, things get a lot more complicated. /After ceremonial duel/ NOT Slash!
1. Restless and Desperate

**Title: Chosen Lineage**

**Rating: PG-13 / T  
><strong>

**Warnings: ****Mild language, violence of varying degree, probably OOC-ness (cause I've never written Yu-gi-oh before) and there will be a number of OC's, but the focus remains on the canon characters, although one OC in particular will be more prominent. Despite that, the focus remains as heavily as possible on Yugi and his friends.**

**I've have only watched the dubbed version of Yu-Gi-Oh, thus names and other things will be taken form the dubbed aka english version. I do know some of the Japanese names, but since I know the characters better in the english version, I'll stick to that to make writing this the tiniest bit easier.**

**Summary****: They said goodbye. Yugi said goodbye. Atem said goodbye. But when Yugi starts acting weird, his friends start to wonder if it was enough. Yugi obviously misses Atem, but Yugi says it's not about Atem. Then why is Yugi acting so weird? But when Yugi gets kidnapped, things get a lot more complicated.**

**Disclaimer****: This disclaimer goes for the entire story. I do not own Yu-gi-oh or any of its characters. I merely borrow them for my own imagination.**

**A/N****: A very welcome to anyone reading this. I'm new to this fandom so please be nice. I do appreciate constructive criticism and encouragement. Please do not flame, it won't stop me anyhow XD**

_This first chapter starts a little weird as in just plain dialogue without any indications of the surroundings, the characters speaking or mannerism. Hope it won't scare you off XD_

This story will hold some Japanese words. Translations will be above each chapter.

"Talking"

_**"Whispering"**_

_"Thoughts"_

...

Enjoy!

...

Chapter One

Restless and Desperate

"Where is he?"

"He is in his room."

"Again?"

"I don't get it!"

"What do you mean?"

"What do I mean? Have you seen him lately?"

"Oh you know I didn't mean it like that. I know he's not been himself. I meant what are referring about, specifically and don't give me that look!"

"I was referring to the fact that at first he was a bundle of energy, full on driving us crazy. Like jumping at corners, acting like he was being watched. Heck just in the third week he was standing in the middle of a storm because he thought he saw something!"

"Well maybe he did see something. What's so strange about that?"

"He stood there for two hours, Tea!"

"Alright, alright. I get your point, I think. Are you saying you're more worried now that he's not acting jumpy and supicious?"

"YES! Because he's not just stopped acting like _that_, he's doing a complete 360. He's the exact opposite right now. Silent, isolated and a constant dazed look on his face."

"Except for his jumpiness. He's more jumpy than ever now because he's so out of it. Just the other day I tapped his shoulder in class and he totally freaked out and punched me."

"HE DID WHAT?"

"Why didn't you tell us this?"

"I'm telling you now, aren't I? It wasn't a big deal, he missed although if I hadn't been as quick as I'd been he would have hit me. Hmm, that's pretty good now that I think about it. He never could defend himself to save his life before."

"This isn't funny, Joey! We have to do something!"

"Like what, Tea? We've tried to help him, every day of every week of every month. I'm not saying we should give up on him, I wouldn't ever. He's my friend, our friend, but maybe what he needs is space."

"I don't know, dude. This isolation stuff usually doesn't lead to good things. He'll just bottle everything up until he burst, so to speak."

"Well what great ideas do you have then? We've tried talking, we've tried patience, we've tried distracting him. Nothing worked before, why should it now?"

"I know it's hard for all of us and that it would be hardest on him, but I never imagined he would take it this hard though."

"Well what did you expect? He shared his body with the guy.. okay that came out wrong. You know what I mean, two souls and one body. They could freaking talk in their heads to each other, or head. This is confusing!"

"I know what you mean, Joey. They weren't just friends or the closest thing to brothers. They were two halves of the same soul. I guess one cannot understand it unless you've been there..."

...

"HEY!"

"Hey, what dude. Spit it out."

"Ryou! He's harbored a spirit in his body. Maybe he can snap him out of it?"

"That's a great idea, except that he harbored an evil spirit who was anything but kind, gentle or helpful in any way! You idiot!"

"Look, no need to insult me. I'm only trying to help here. And Ryou's case may be a lot different, but at least he understands what it feels like to suddenly be alone in your own mind."

"Alright, slow down guys. Listen, this is getting us nowhere and it's definitely not getting Yugi out of his room."

...

"Maybe...maybe we should leave him alone for today. Lets just see how he behaves at school tomorrow and then decide whether we should try something again. I can even stop by Ryou this afternoon to ask for his help, should we need it."

"Sounds like a plan. Okay, lets do that. See you all at school tomorrow then."

"Yeah okay. Bye guys!"

"Bye!"

/ ... /

Grandpa Muto hesitated before his grandson's bedroom door. He didn't wish to disturb him but how could he just ignore the silent cries for help. He had been the first to notice a difference in Yugi. It wasn't after a few days back home, when his friends started noticing the changes. No. Yugi's behaviour changed almost instantly, as soon as Yami, no Atem, stepped through that door.

Perhaps he had imagined it or maybe it was an aftereffect from crying, but he'd noticed his grandson tensing up as if his breath was cut off or as if something had grabbed him, took him by surprise. But before he could ask, the place started collapsing. It was when they got out of there and headed back to civilization and back home, that he could ask his grandson if he was alright.

But of course he wasn't alright. He had just lost his best friend, closest friend ever. A brother, not only in heart but in soul. Someone he relied on mroe than he ever relied on anyone else. How could Yugi possibly be alright after losing that most trusted person?

But Solomon could tell something was different. Yugi grieved for Atem, yes. Just like Tea, Joey, even Tristan had cried. But Yugi's behaviour involved mroe than regular grieving mannerisms. He couldn't sit still for more than five minutes and even that was a stretch. Standing still seemed equally as impossible. He needed to keep moving, pacing up and down no matter how small the space was and if he was forced sit he kept fidgeting.

then there was the constant looks over his shoulder, to his left and right as if he saw something or felt like he was being watched. His hesitance to touch as if afraid he'd get hurt or maybe he felt simply crowded.

The worst change was his fierce protectiveness taking on a much more hands-on approach. Whenever a stranger past by too close for his comfort, he either moved himself between the stranger and whomever was closest passing him by and at the airport Yugi had raised his voice against Solomon when he had wandered away form the group a little to check their flight.

Grandpa Muto sighed as he pulled himself out of his thoughts. Yes, he was worried. Yugi behaved nothing like a regular person in grieving. Rather than curling up somewhere, he grew restless. Sure he had cried, he had yelled, he had grown silent... but those were just moments. The rest of the time Yugi had acted like a caged animal getting ready for a fight and that was so far away from who Yugi was, that it worried everyone a great deal.

Finally, Solomon pulled up all his courage and knocked on his grandson's closed bedroom door. Silence followed his knock, as he had expected.

"Yugi?"

Nothing again. He sighed again, something he did a lot these few months since Egypt. Yugi didn't respond to anyone, not his friends, not Solomon, not even to Kaiba's insults. he didn't even show surprise that Kaiba had shown up. yugi has simply dismissed his presence and within seconds his eyes were roaming around the room and back looking out the window as if he was expecting something to appear.

"Yugi, please. Talk to me."

It had been only this week that his behaviour had changed again. He'd locked himself in his room whenever he possibly could and went silent for the duration of the day. He came out to eat, he left for school, helped out at the shop... but always with an underlying restlessness and suspicion and only spoke when asked a question. Most of the time he responded only with one-worded answers, unless more was required.

"I've made something to eat, if you're hungry. I'll leave it out here for you."

Solomon felt his heart constrict at the lasting silence. He wanted his grandson back, that smiling bubble of pure joy that always lighted the mood wherever he went. Did Yugi even realise how many people he was affecting, how many people were not themselves simply because Yugi wasn't himself?

Solomon turned away from the door wiping away a stray tear that had escaped his strong hold. Crying would not help Yugi right now. He needed to be strong for his grandson, in case he was ready to accept help, comfort and Solomon would grand it immediately. Looking back at the door, Grandpa Muto tried once last time.

"We all love you Yugi. I know the pain you're going through. I hope you'll let me help you, when you are ready to accept your loss."

Silence reigned throughout the entire gameshop as Solomon Muto went back downstairs, leaving his broken grandson alone.

Yugi sat on the ground, huddled in the darkest corner of his bedroom, his head on his knees and his hands holding his head as if in pain. A broken whisper broke the silence for the first time in days, except there was no one around to hear it.

_**"I'm sorry grandpa."**_

Yugi's body shook as he tried to keep still while his body and mind rebeleld against that order. He needed to move and keep moving. But Yugi didn't move. He gripped his hair tightly, trying to distract himself with physical pain.

"_They're wrong. This isn't about Atem. Sure I miss him terribly, but who wouldn't after spending years with his consciousness in your head. We were more than partners in battle, I was more than a reincarnation. We were friends, best friends, soul friends. No that isn't right. We were more than that. We were brothers._

_I cried when he left, but I managed to choke out a goodbye. Though it wasn't a normal death, he still died as soon as he entered the afterlife. And it hurts just like a real friend dying, like a brother dying. He's gone and he's not coming back and it's not fair! But I can't change it and it wouldn't be fair to bring him back or to never have let him go. He didn't belong in this world._

_I wanted to cry more, to break things, to act childish and irrational, but I couldn't. Even separated as we were, he could still calm me. I could still feel him. So I may have choked out my goodbye, but my heart screamed out a farewell._

_But this isn't about Atem. This is about me and my friends. They worry about me, heck I worry about me. I feel weird and it started when Atem left. This does not help my case, but it's not grieving I'm going through. Something else is going on. It feels almost like…a warning. Something is coming, something bad is going to happen and for some reason I'm aware of this. _

_I only wish I knew what was going to happen"_

_tbc_

* * *

><p><strong>AN: Just a notice to my readers of my other fandoms. I have not nor will I ever give up on my stories. I succeeded in updating my HP story, however am still struggling a bit with DBZ and Balto. It's probably not a good idea to start something new, but since nothing has worked so far, I thought starting something new in a completely different fandom was worth a shot. It could get me inspired to write again and maybe help me past my block which seems to be focussed mostly on the DBZ fandom. Don't give up hope, I will update, I'm trying and Februari might not cut it, but I'm hoping I can throw something out in March. Please don't hate me *sad puppy-dog eyes***

**If anyone read this chapter, thank you very much. It's only the beginning so it's nothing exciting yet, and I'm very worried for reactions I'll get when the actual plot appears. Keep in mind people, I love angst and fantasy and animals, so don't expect a story about regular human issues XD**

Next time on Chosen Lineage: Yugi baffles his friends in gym class, Joey and Tristan worry whether they've set the wrong example for Yugi, Tea doesn't know whether to be more worried or relieved and Grandpa Muto's punishment for Yugi ends up in a scare.

Stay Tuned for Chapter two - Awareness!


	2. Awareness

**Title: Chosen Lineage**

**Rating: PG-13 / T**

**Warnings: ****Mild language, probably OOC-ness (cause I've never written Yu-gi-oh before) and there will be a number of OC's, but the focus remains on the canon characters, although one OC in particular will be more prominent. Despite that, the focus remains as heavily as possible on Yugi and his friends.**

**I've have only watched the dubbed version of Yu-Gi-Oh, thus names and other things will be taken form the dubbed aka english version. I do know some of the Japanese names, but since I know the characters better in the english version, I'll stick to that to make writing this the tiniest bit easier.**

**Summary****: They said goodbye. Yugi said goodbye. Atem said goodbye. But when Yugi starts acting weird, his friends start to wonder if it was enough. Yugi obviously misses Atem, but Yugi says it's not about Atem. Then why is Yugi acting so weird? And when Yugi gets kidnapped, things get a lot more complicated.**

**Disclaimer****: This disclaimer goes for the entire story. I do not own Yu-gi-oh or any of its characters. I merely borrow them for my own imagination.**

**A/N****: A very welcome to anyone reading this. I'm new to this fandom so please be nice. I do appreciate constructive criticism and encouragement. Please do not flame, it won't stop me anyhow XD**

This story will hold some Japanese words. Translations will be above each chapter.

...

Enjoy!

...

Chapter Two

...

Awareness

...

Joey scrunched his nose up as he recalled the horror he just went through. It was inhuman and downright torture. He had just suffered through an hour of a boring and confusing Maths class and that wasn't the worst of it. No the worst about the whole ordeal was that he had been alone with none of his friends. Of all his friends, only Tristan had the same math class as him, but he had been late to school and thus was not allowed back in. The teacher normally was less strict, knowing the trouble Tristan and Joey respectably ended up in every week, but apparently the man was in a foul mood this morning. He had simply not wanted to put up with latecomers and Joey was left to suffer alone.

Tea and Yugi had a more advanced Maths class but lucky for them they had it on wednesday and not on monday like Joey. Tea started the mondays with Dance class, which she loved of course and Yugi started with Visual Arts class.

Yugi. Joey stopped walking as he thought of his best friend. It had only been a few days ago that Yugi finally returned to them. Two weeks Yugi had turned in on himself, locked away in his dark room and hardly speaking. Even if they managed to get something out of him, it had always been one-worded responses.

Joey continued on his way to the second class of the day -History- where he could hang back with his friends again. Today was Yugi's first day back to school. Those two weeks he'd been such a mess, that Grandpa Muto had called him in sick. Since Yugi was a very good student, it had been no problem, even if it were two weeks.

Seeing the classroom ahead, Joey shook his thoughts out of his mind and put on the smile he once again could genuinely carry around since Yugi was back, for the most part. Sure he came out of his room again, hung out with Joey and the others, talked with them properly again... but he wasn't the Yugi they all knew and loved. The Yugi they befriended, the Yugi they went on adventures with to Duelist Kingdom, Battle City, that horrible Virtual World and even Ancient Egypt!

No, Yugi had overcome whatever weird depression had come over him these last two weeks, but was similar again to before those two weeks. He was restless, supicious, always moving and looking around. But Joey was still happy cause at least Yugi was with them again. Maybe in time Yugi could fully recover from losing the Pharaoh, cause that's what they were all convinced had started all this. They'd lost Atem -it was still weird to call him that- and Yugi hadn't been _Yugi_ ever since.

Joey stopped before turning through the door, hitting himself across the head. "_Enough with the thinking."_ With a genuine smile, he turned the corner and entered the partly filled classroom. He saw Tea and Tristan both sitting next to the window, but sometihng was wrong. Both looked worried, that was Joey's first sign. But the other sign was far worse and caused his smile to disappear and a look of concern to replace it.

Yugi wasn't in class.

Now this shouldn't be a cause to worry as class wasn't started yet, but this was Yugi. Yugi was always early in their History class because of two reasons. One being, he loved the class and two being he was always released early from Art class and was always the first of their group to get here. That's why they tasked Yugi with securing seats for them all.

"Hey guys," Joey greeted his friends, his tone of voice betraying his worry. "You guys seen Yugi yet?"

The identical looks of concern did nothing for Joey's own peace of mind. His rational mind tried to persuad him that Yugi could very well be held up and that there was nothing to be concerned about, but his irrational mind was thinking up all kinds of horror scenario's.

"He could just be running late," Tristan offered, obviously trying to calm everyone before they all rushed out of the classroom and raised the alarm. His protective instincts were screaming at him to call 911, but that was absurd. Just because Yugi was late to a class that hadn't even started yet -and so he technically wasn't even late yet- didn't mean Yugi was in some kind of trouble.

Trouble like, his puzzle being stolen and a challenge to a duel ending in flames and Yugi nearly suffocating or burning to death. Or trouble like dueling the creator of duel monsters in a different realm that sucked his energy away and nearly killed him. Or being stuck in a virtual world where losing a duel meant losing your body in the real world and being stuck forever in the virtual one. Or maybe trouble like a crazy spirit trying to destroy a pharaoh and using you against him.

"Tristan!"

Tristan looked up and was only inches away from Joey's face. He slammed backwards into his chair, almost tumbling backwards. He quickly righted himself and focussed on his friends again.

"Sorry, what were you saying?" He asked feeling like an idiot. He had been moments from bolting out the door to find Yugi.

Tea smiled ruefully at him before answering. "I was just saying that we shouldn't jump to conclusions. As you said Yugi could simply be running late. He's been out of school for two weeks and hasn't been himself even longer. He could just be trying to adjust again."

"And also," Joey continued, retaking his seat beside Tristan, "His teacher could have held him back to talk as he has indeed been out of school for a while. All the teachers love him, so it's not that unthinkable."

Tristan nodded in agreement, his body relaxing somewhat as they all waited as patiently as they could. But when Tea interrupted their silence, "Oh no!" they knew something was wrong. The teacher was closing the door and Yugi had not yet arrived for class. Yugi who was always on time and love this particular class and he would never forget to inform his friends if he couldn't come, unless he was not in a position to inform them.

They locked gazes, all three looking beyond worried. As one they jumped up, their seats clattering backwards onto the floor and rushed for the closing door. They nearly slammed into the startled teacher, but were soon being stared down by the man.

"What is the meaning of this?" He asked in a stern tone.

"Yugi isn't here yet, we want to go find him." Tea responded before Joey could explode in the man's face.

"Mr. Muto is late to class and knows the consequences. I do admit it is unusal that he is late, but that does not change the rules. If he arrives with an acceptable reason for his tardiness, I will let it slide. Now, Mr. Wheeler, Mr. Taylor and Miss. Gardner, take your seats or I'll have you all in detention this afternoon."

Tea, Joey and Tristan looked at each other, silently debating what they should do. It had been three months since the pharaoh, no Yami, no _Atem _had "died" and so far nothing bad had happened, besides Yugi's obvious lack of coping with the emotional trauma. Even now they didn't feel like Yugi was in danger. After several years filled with troubling enemies, the three had trusted their gut instinct and right now it wasn't telling them Yugi was in trouble. But he still wasn't here and that didn't sit right with any of them.

"Sit down right now!" the teacher's voice boomed through the classroom.

Joey, Tea and Tristan sighed as one and took their seats with obvious reluctance. They cared more for Yugi than school or a boring detention, but they felt like Yugi's missing class might be more complicated than they thought. They were sure he wasn't in danger, but they were also sure he wasn't alright. But to go charging around the school in a frenzy to look for him would not go over so well with Yugi, not lately.

He didn't want to talk about Ya-, no _Atem_. He didn't want them to worry about him either and he even snapped at them before when they couldn't stop worrying. As much as they wanted to go find Yugi right now, they knew it was best to wait and see what was actually going on. After all, Yugi could look after himself now. He wasn't the little kid that got bullied by Joey and Tristan anymore.

Unfortunately this decision meant this would be a very long hour of History class.

/ - /

Yugi sat quietly in the science classroom merely enjoying the quiet and solitude. It was breaktime right now meaning no one was in the classrooms. The perfect time and place to relax for a change and Yugi seriously needed to relax if only for just a moment.

All day long walking amongst the throng of people had worn him down. He felt uncomfortable and unsafe whenever anyone walked too closely and schools were always packed with people. Being constantly on edge and feeling threatened drained a lot of his energy. So that's why Yugi decided to skip break and come straight to the science classroom, his next class.

A shiver went through Yugi and a sudden urge to check the open door overwhelmed him. With a heavy sigh he once again turned to look at his right. All he saw was a sunlit hallway that was completely empty. No one was there, no danger, no threat, nothing. He shook his head in frustration as if that action would clear his nerves -nerves he didn't even comprehend the existence of.

He had nothing to be nervous about, nothing to worry about. There hadn't been a single threat or potential danger for months. Ever since...

Yeah, ever since that. So there was no reason to feel this way. He sometimes felt like a dog sensing a storm coming, but even a storm showed signs of arrival that no sixth sense was required for.

The sound of the shrill school bell had Yugi jumping in his seat. His eyes darted all over the place before settling on the open door. Knowing that the other students would be coming into the school again, Yugi could not look away from the door, the overwhelming urge to see whatever was coming taking control over his body. The mere thought that someone could come inside this classroom without him noticing nearly sent him into a panic, so Yugi opted for not thinking about that and to just keep watching the door. He would be alright as long as he kept watching.

When Yugi spotted three familiar faces in the bustling crowd, he felt himself relax the tiniest bit. Not only could he trust them, but seeing them also meant they were unharmed. As they neared the classroom, though, Yugi saw obvious signs of distress on all three faces and vaguely wondered if he himself would remain unharmed as Joey quite literally stormed up to him, more anger than distress showing on his face.

Yugi had half a mind to backpedal away from Joey, but the lost the chance to decide when Joey suddenly threw his arms around him, entailing an "oomphf" from Yugi as the force knocked the air out of his lungs. Even before his mind was aware of his feelings, Yugi flinched in the embrace as a sudden discomfort rose in him. Panic followed quickly and Yugi's mind went into overdrive trying to find a way out of the embrace -that was keeping him from checking his surroundings for any potential danger- but without hurting his friends' feelings.

"Yugi. Are you alright?" Tea asked. She seemed a little out of breath and one look at Tristan revealed the same state in him.

Thankfully for Yugi he was released from Joey's -meant to comfort- hug, so he could properly see all his friends and give them an answer. Yugi tried to hide his careful step back from his friends, but given the small frown that appeared on Joey's face, he concluded that he had failed miserably. It was one thing to have this skittish problem, but it was another to hurt his friends with his behaviour.

"Yugi?"

Realizing he was taking too long to answer, Yugi put on a fake smile and tried to answer as cheerfully as possible. "I'm fine. Why do you ask?"

"Because you didn't show up in History, man!" Joey blurted out, clearly reaching the end of his rope. Joey was never one to keep his cool for long, needing to vent vocally every now and then and from the exasperation and concern he was currently radiating, Yugi deduced that he had gone about this the wrong way, maybe. Perhaps he should have tried harder to convince his friends he was alright.

"I'm sorry, guys. I didn't mean to worry you." Yugi looked down, not wanting to meet their gazes and as expected his -well there really was no other word for it- _paranoia_, overwhelmed him again, urging him to raise his head and look around.

"Then what happened? Why didn't ya show up for History?" Joey continued, oblivious to Yugi's inner turmoil as he fought his newfound anxiety complex.

Before Yugi could answer Tea stepped in, effectively ending Joey's increasing stress levels. "I know you didn't mean to, Yugi, but you had us very worried. Normally you let us know if you can't come, whether it's inside or outside school. Add to that the fact that you weren't on the roof during break where we always meet up... we got very concerned. We thought something had happened to you."

If Tea accomplished anything, it was to make Yugi feel even worse than before. He knew what she said was true, it wasn't like him to just disappear without a warning.

"Okay look. Lets just forget what happened for a moment before we drag him completely down," Tristan spoke up.

Tea turned back fast to Yugi after listening to Tristan and a look of guilt crossed her face as she took in the guilt-swarmed face of Yugi. But Tristan quickly continued before she could go all out mother-hen on poor Yugi.

"Why don't we let Yugi explain his absence from class and then move on with our lives. It's not the end of the world that he missed a class."

Tea threw a halfhearted glare at Tristan, clearly not agreeing with him on missing classes, but she turned back to Yugi eager for his explanation, as were Joey and Tristan. they were a little taken aback by Yugi's seemingly dead-honest response.

"Well, I couldn't get a proper seat in History. I prefer to sit in the far back, but every seat in the back was taken -and by people who would definitely not move if asked."

Silence reigned in their little group as Tea, Tristan and Joey all watched Yugi's innocent and dead-honest eyes staring back at them. Of course it only lasted a short moment before Yugi's eyes were once again darting all over the place.

"Wait..._what_?" Tristan couldn't formulate a full sentence from the shock, although he had managed better than Tea and Joey who were still gaping mutely at Yugi. He and Joey has skipped classes a lot before they met Yugi, but never had they used that excuse. It was enough to make him stutter to a halt before he could try to speak again, but luckily Joey seemed to have recovered his speech.

"Wait, let me get this straight," Joey began, still sounding a little flustered. "You, Yugi, skipped a class -your favorite class I might add- because you couldn't get a seat in the far back of the classroom?"

"Sounds about right." The almost nonchalant confirmation stilled Joey again. Either Yugi ignored their reactions or he simply didn't process what their reactions were exactly, because he turned back to his table and sat down as their science teacher entered the classroom.

Knowing they could not talk any further right now, Joey took his seat next to Yugi and Tea and Tristan took the table in front of them. It seemed Yugi had managed to claim a table a table at the back _this _class, but Joey was not letting this go so easily. This was so unlike Yugi, hell even Tristan and him wouldn't use such a lame excuse, not to mention Yugi would never sit in the back unless someone had something important to discuss. As soon as they were free to start their experiment, Joey would question Yugi some more about this.

/ - /

Joey watched as Yugi poured the last substance into their mixture. Now was his chance to question Yugi as their mixture needed to be heated to a certain temperature at a slow pace, giving them plenty of time to talk.

"Hey Yuge, can we talk?" Joey asked almost hesitantly for he had no clue how to approach the subject. He didn't want Yugi to feel hurt or the less likely chance, not wanitng to make Yugi angry.

"Sure Joey, what's on your mind?" Though spoken with its natural cheer, Joey detected the slight tense undertone immediately. He wasn't as inobservant as people thought he was.

Before answering, Joey took a good look at Yugi. His best friend wasn't looking at him, his gaze focussed on his notepad where he'd scribbled down every step of the experiment. It didn't seem like Yugi was really looking at it, more like he needed somewhere to look, like he was grounding himself at something.

That's when Joey noticed the deathgrip Yugi had on the table. The skin on his fingers was white from the tight grip. As Joey looked closer, he noticed Yugi's face was rather pale and his breathing seemed less than calm.

"Yuge, are you okay?" Joey asked in a hushed whisper, not wanting to alert anyone else in case nothing was wrong.

"Sure," Came Yugi's weak reply. He looked up at Joey with a weak smile."Except for this smell. You know how it bothers me."

Realization dawned on Joey and he smiled back at Yugi. He remembered how this particular experiment was a weakness to several students in their class and other classes. It wasn't a very hard experiment, quite the contrary, but it was one with a foul smell and not everyone could stand it. A few people wuld gag or actually throw up during it. Yugi didn't do either, though he wasn't alright either. He couldn't stand the smell either and always paled considerably and looked nauseous. Luckily for Yugi it never went any further than that.

"So was that what you wanted to talk about or..," Yugi interrupted Joey's thoughts. It was clear that Yugi was seeking a distraction, either from the smell or maybe even his newfound paranoia, cause that's the only word Joey could fit to Yugi's behaviour.

"What? Oh no, I just wanted to..-" Joey stumbled over the words taken by surprise. He still didn't know how to question Yugi about his new behaviour and his horrible excuse. But he didn't even get the chance to ask.

A puff of smoke erupted from the experiment -which was normal, it did this at reaching certain temperatures- but the reaction it evoked from Yugi was definitely not normal. Yugi swayed as the smoke assaulted him and without releasing his death grip, he tried to turn away from the smoke and smell. Joey watched as if in slow motion as Yugi tilted backwards, but before he even got far his legs gave out and Yugi dropped straight to the ground.

Joey was never as happy with his reflexes as right then. He instantly rushed forward and caught Yugi before he hit the floor carefully lowering him down.

"Yugi!"

Tea's shout alerted the entire classroom, but thankfully the teacher made them all remain at their seats. Only Tea and Tristan were allowed to come over, although Joey vaguely wondered if either of those two could have been stopped by the teacher. Not a chance.

"Yugi? Come on man, wake up," Joey tried to coax yugi awake, but the teen lay silent in his arms, breathing slightly erratic and skin far too pale for comfort.

"What happened, man?" Tristan blurted only increasing Joey's distress by the hostile tone, despite knowing tristan didnt mean it like that.

"I don't know, okay!" Joey blurted back. Upon seeing his teacher crouching next to him, he took a deep breath and tried to explain what had happened. "I think it was the smell of that stuff. Yugi has never taken it well, but he's never passed out like this."

The teacher nodded showing she understood. "Alright, take him to the nurse's office and stay with him until he wakes up. I don't want him to wake up alone."

Joey immediately stood up, easily lifting up Yugi with him. Joey vaguely wondered if Yugi's weight had lessened recently or if he'd always been this light. Yugi seemed healthy and ate regularly -except for the first break today when they couldn't find him because he was sitting in this classroom.

"Go on you two. I know how tight you four are. You can all redo the experiment some other time."

Joey was startled out of his thoughts when he heard his teacher. He was quickly joined by Tea and Tristan and they all looked at each other with concerned eyes. As one, they left the classroom and walked as fast as possible to the nurse's office with an unconcsious Yugi.

/ - /

"Yuge, you can't be serious!"

"I'm fine, Joey."

"Collapsing is not 'fine', Yuge!"

"Please listen to him, Yugi. You only just woke up!"

"Yeah man, you should take it easy. Listen to Joe over here."

"Guys, really I'm alright. You don't have to worry about me."

Suddenly a hand took hold of Yugi's shoulder and turned him around quite sudden. Startled -and slightly defensive- eyes stared straight at a determined and exasperated Joey.

"You're our friend, Yugi. It's our job to worry about ya. It comes naturally in fact."

Yugi resisted the urge to bite his lip -a nervous habit he took on recently. He never liked to be fussed over -something likely to stem from growing up with just his grandpa whom looked after him as much as Yugi looked after grandpa and of course his lack of a social life for many years. Despite having really good friends now, Yugi didn't want them to fuss, to worry. It only made him feel guilty. He'd rather they be happy than waste their time worrying about him.

"Please Yugi." Tea's pleading eyes almost won him over, but Yugi looked away and carefully shrugged out of Joey's hold on his shoulders.

"I'm grateful guys, really. But I'm alright and I'd rather get on with this day than sit in the nurse's office being stared at." Yugi stopped himself from adding _"I just want to keep moving"_. The thought of having to sit or lie down for a unknown amount of time almost caused him to panic.

Not in the least interested in standing still any longer, Yugi turned back around and continued towards the locker rooms to get ready for PE, the reason his friends were so concerned. He'd collapsed -_fainted_ really- half an hour ago and their next class was PE. His friends weren't happy to hear Yugi wishing to go to PE when he lost consciousness earlier.

But Yugi would not let their concern stop him. It sounded cruel, but he knew it was true. Before he would have happily obliged as long as his friends were happy and safe, but lately...the incomprehensible feelings of a nearing threat, the urge to keep mobile, it was so overwhelming that it even overruled his desire to keep his friends happy and worry-free.

Yugi dry-swallowed at that realization. His friends used to mean everything to him and they still did, but here he was making them unhappy to satisfy his own feelings and desires. Was he being cruel? Was he a bad person, a selfish person now? He wasn't sure he wanted to know the answer to that. All he wanted was to have this stop, this ungodly paranoia that had infected him. With a heavy heart, Yugi entered the boy's locker room without a backwards glance to see if Joey and Tristan were following him.

/ - /

"Alright, everyone line up please!" Mr. Katsuro shouted through the big PE hall. "Today we're doing fitness tests, specifically the Beep Test and Obstacle Course."

Everyone groaned clearly not liking that idea. Yugi on the other hand was pleased with this -which was strange since normally he hated this as he wasn't very strong in PE- but it did mean he could move around rather than standing still to wait his turn on whatever else they'd do in PE.

"Yeah yeah, I know. You'll all hate me later, but right now I don't give a damn," Mr. Katsuro continued. "I'm going to split you all in two groups. Those that do well in PE will be on the obstacle course and those who have a bit more trouble in PE will be doing the Beep Test." Ignoring the protests, Mr. Katsuro went on splitting his class in two.

Yugi wasn't surprised when he was assigned for the Beep test. Joey, Tristan and Tea were assigned to the obstacle course, also no surprise. Yugi was happy to see Ryou who had missed their Visual Arts class -he didn't know about History cause Yugi himself hadn't shown up then. Ryou was also assigned to the Beep test.

"Hey Yugi." Ryou greeted his friend happily.

"Hey Ryou. It's good to see you," Yugi replied with genuine joy. Ryou had become as close a friend as Joey and the others and he was glad he didn't have to do this test without any of his friends there. At least he and Ryou could cheer each other up, cause no matter how pleased Yugi was to have a PE activity that involved constant movement, he still didn't like this test.

"My assistent coach, Mr. Arata will observe the obstacle course and I will work with the Beep test, so everyone place go to your places so we can start!" Mr. Katsuro shouted interrupting the growing conversations between the many teens.

"Well, we better get ready," Ryou spoke up nervously.

Yugi gave him a reassuring smile as they walked to the starting line for their Beep Test. Across the hall Joey, Tristan and Tea made their way into the line for the obstacle course, thoughts only on Yugi who was forced to run a fitness test when he had fainted a short while ago.

/ - /

"Ah man, I'm beat," Joey stumbled over to the nearest bench, Tristan right behind him.

"Well done guys!" Tea said cheerfully as Joey and Tristan quite literally dropped down onto the bench she was sitting at.

"At least we won't...have to this...again for a while," Tristan said between breaths as he leaned his head back against the wall.

"As much as I agree, I do approve of this test. It does really help," Tea futily tried, knowing the boys would never agree on the test being anything but horrible torture, despite their obvious strength in the test. They were in the top ten students for the obstacle course, Tea in the top fifteen.

"You're just happy... you did better than ever before," Joey muttered from his huddled position on the ground, his upper body thrown haphazardly on the bench but the rest no having made it quite that far.

"Well what if I am? I was so close to the top ten, but I just couldn't go on anymore," Tea huffed slightly in anonyance at herself.

Silence draped over the trio for a few minutes with only the sounds being of the remaining students running, climbing and scuffling around the obstacle course. And of course the constant pattern of annoying, high-pitched beeps from the other side of the PE hall.

"Since we're done here, how about we get going. I've had enough of PE for a while," Tristan spoke up, interrupting the comfortable silence.

"Sure, lets get Ryou and Yuge and get out of here," Joey responded, clearly enthousiastic about leaving PE.

Tea smiled at them and together the trio got up from their claimed bench and turned towards the other side of the Pe hall, moving towards the Beep test. They could see about a handful of students still running, which was surprising as this group consisted of the students who were not very strong in PE. To have a handful of students still running this far into the test was amazing. Of course the Beep test was a bit easier than the obstacle course, and didn't go for the same amount of time, it was rare to see so many runners -to see any runners really- still on their feet after the obstacle course was almost finished.

the recording of the test suddenly spoke up loud and clear that the runners had reached the last part of shuttle thirteen, or level fifteen. There were a total of 21 levels spread out over sixteen shuttles. One shuttle consisted of one, two or three parts. Shuttle thirteen was obviosuly a three-part shuttle meaning it was spread over levels thirteen to fifteen.

In other words, if the runners could finish this last par tof shuttle thirteen, they'd have cleared level fifteen.

The trio made a wide berth around the space so as not to bother the runners and made their way to the benches on the side where they saw a familiar head of white hair. As they made their way over to Ryou, they heard a loud thump. Despite knowing what they'd see, they turned around and saw one of the runners had gone down, literally. He slowly got up and stumbled his way out of the area without crossing paths with the remaining runners.

"Bugger." Joey muttered casually, though he had winced when they'd heard the fall.

"Yeah, too bad. He almost made it to fifteen," Tristan said sympathetically.

Finally they reached Ryou and were startled that Yugi wasn't sitting anywhere near or far away. the trio sat down with concerned looks as Ryou finally noticed them, haivng been staring almost perplexed at his fellow students who were still running the test.

"Hey guys. I hadn't seen you there. How'd it go?"

"We did alright. Joey and me did a little better than previous times and Tea almost made the top ten today. I take it you did well since you're smiling?" Tristan inquired after answering Ryou's question.

"I did better than before too. I've gone up from shuttle nine to ten, though ten was in two parts so I went form level five to level seven."

"Well done Ryou!" Tea congratulated him. As expected the teen immediately looked down again, his shyness taking over again but his smile remained.

The sound of the blank voice calling shuttle fourteen sobered the group up and Joey asked the question they all wanted to know the answer too.

"So Ryou, where'd Yugi get of to? Is he alright?"

Ryou seemed confused for a moment before looking back at the field where four students were stilling running between point A and B. He looked back at Joey and the others and almost hesitantly answered them.

"Yugi's still running."

For a moment nothing happened as they all stared at Ryou -who felt quite self-conscious because of it. Then they all turned around so fast it was a miracle their necks didn't snap. Eyes widened and mouths gaped open in surprise as they spotted the unmistakable spikey head of Yugi Muto.

Yugi who never exceleld at PE, Yugi who disliked fitness test, Yugi who couldn't pack a punch even if he wanted to, Yugi who normally dropped down before level nine despite his desire to keep going...that same Yugi who had collapsed over an hour ago was still running right now at shuttle fourteen or level sixteen.

As if to snap them out of their daze, one of the remaining students tripped ove rhis own exhausted feet and went sprawling across the floor on his stomach. His arms flailing out as if to catch himself. Yugi, who had been running a little behind him -the other student had been running far too quickly for a marathon-like test- now had his running space obstructed and no time to to swerve aside.

Gasps of students who were paying attention filled the hall and Coach Katsuro rushed forward with the intention to help, but to everyone's surprise Yugi jumped over the fallen student almost as if by instinct. Immediately upon his landing, Yugi turned around to see if his fellow student was alright and seemed unaware that he was in fact running backwards now.

"I'm fine, keep going!" the fallen boy waved Yugi on and Yugi turned the right way around again and sped up as runnig backwards had slowed him down a little.

Yugi missed the beep and had to really step it up now if he wanted to stay in the game. If he missed the second beep he was out. Joey, Tristan and Tea were standing up now and watched with rapt attention as Yugi raced to the other line. Ryou was holding his breath and crossing his fingers.

Yugi crossed the line and rather than stop and turn on the spot, he simply did as the others and made a small curve and lined himself up to go back to the other line again. The beep sounded just as Yugi finished his curved turn and he was back on track again. He matched his speed to his earlier jog again, fast enough to keep up with the beep but not too fast to waste his energy.

The trio slumepd down onto the bench with Ryou and sighed as one. Ryou released his breath and they smiled at each other. they were getting far too caught up in a simple gym test.

Time went on as the four teens continued watching Yugi run his test with increasing amazement. By now only Yugi was still running, currently at shuttle fifteen or level nineteen.

"I still can't believe this?" Tea muttered stil sounding in shock. Joey and Tristan simply nodded, too caught up to answer.

"Does Yugi work out or something? Does he go running every day maybe?" Ryou inquired, perhaps looking for a new strategy for himself.

"No, not at all," Tea answered.

"And how would you know that? It's not like we're around him 24/7." Tristan put in.

"Well apart from the time he sleeps at night and the afternoons he helps out his grandpa, we are around him 24/7." Tea snapped back.

The sound of shuttle sixteen being reached prompted them back into silence. Yugi had now achieved level nineteen and if he could keep this up a few more beeps he would be awared level twenty.

"It would be so cool if Yugi finished the test," Joey spoke with glee. Probably the idea of boasting around that his friend, little Yugi, had finished the beep test.

But as if Joey mentioning it out loud had jinxed him, Yugi suddenly halted his running, stumbled a few feet and grabbed at his side as he bent over trying to catch his breathing. Despite this display, he hardly seemed to sweat at all and his face was hardly as red as the other students who by now had rested a while.

"Smart move Joey. You jinxed Yugi!" Tea huffed as if he'd ruined her day. She got up and walked over to Yugi, the others following behind her, Joey with a perplexed expression at her reaction.

Watching from the furthest bench away a pair of eyes glanced at the group under the dark bangs hanging over his forehead. A frown appeared on the face and almost with disgust, the person turned away from the sight of the group of friends and stalked out of the PE hall.

_TBC_

* * *

><p><strong>AN: Okay I just had to end the chapter here cause it was getting ridiculously long, to my usual standards I mean. I have a minimum rule of 500o words ofr my Harry Potter story and a 2000 minimum for any other stories and I've gone past both minimums with this chapter as it's over 6000 words, almost 7000!**

**So this means, not everything I teased about at the end of previous chapter is in this chapter and I have no idea where my inspiration came form but I spend a heck of a lot of time on the PE class on a subject I myself hated with a vengeance in school, so that's a bit weird. But it was a neccessary part for the plot. you're all thinking, what the heck? What plot could you have in midn that requires so much about a PE class, well I can't tell ya, so you'll just have to wait.**

**Please don't expect my other chapters to be this long. I amy sporadically write another long one like this or maybe I'll even surprise myself and write a lot of long chapters, I don't know. It took me a while to even realize how much I'd already written. But for now, hope you enjoyed the chapter. **

**I might have made some mistakes about the classes and/or fitness tests. I consulted a site about the beep test to get a sense of it and the rest just came from memory. So any mistakes are mine and I hope you can overlook them. The basic element that I wanted to get across I think I got. the beep test was just a means to and end. XD**

**If anyone is interested in the particular site i used for the beep test info, look here: http:/ en. wikipedia. org/ wiki/ Multi-stage _ fitness _ test (just remove the spaces)**

**Oh and only the last scene I haven't reread so there may be some mistakes still in there and knowing myself I could possibly have some mistake in the other scenes too. If there are my apologies and I will flush them out when I get back.  
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_Next time on Chosen Lineage: Joey once again jinxes Yugi, Yugi takes an unexpected drastic action and Grandpa's punishment for Yugi ends up in a really bad scare!_

_Stay Tuned for Chapter three - Instinctive_

p.s. I'll be in England from the 8th till the 11th for an annual dogshow, Crufts. So I won't update anymore this week ,but I am taking my stories with me in case inspiration hits me.

Please Read and Review!


	3. Instinctive

**Title: Chosen Lineage**

**Rating: PG-13 / T**

**Warnings: Mild language, probably OOC-ness (cause I've never written Yu-gi-oh before) and there will be a number of OC's, but the focus remains on the canon characters, although one OC in particular will be more prominent. Despite that, the focus remains as heavily as possible on Yugi and his friends.**

**I've have only watched the dubbed version of Yu-Gi-Oh, thus names and other things will be taken form the dubbed aka english version. I do know some of the Japanese names, but since I know the characters better in the english version, I'll stick to that to make writing this the tiniest bit easier.**

**Summary: They said goodbye. Yugi said goodbye. Atem said goodbye. But when Yugi starts acting weird, his friends start to wonder if it was enough. Yugi obviously misses Atem, but Yugi says it's not about Atem. Then why is Yugi acting so weird? And when Yugi gets kidnapped, things get a lot more complicated.**

**Disclaimer: This disclaimer goes for the entire story. I do not own Yu-gi-oh or any of its characters. I merely borrow them for my own imagination.  
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**A/N: A very welcome to anyone reading this. I'm new to this fandom so please be nice. I do appreciate constructive criticism and encouragement. Please do not flame, it won't stop me anyhow XD**

_**This story will hold some Japanese words. Translations will be above each chapter if that chapter holds Japanese words..**_

**...**

**Enjoy!**

**...**

**Chapter Three**

**...**

**Instinctive**

**...**

It was more than two hours ago and still people were watching him and whispering behind his back, thinking he didn't hear them. Yugi couldn't stop the scathing thought, that even a deaf person could hear their obvious whispers, from forming in his mind. The whispering and eyes constantly following his every move weren't the worse part. No, the worst part... was Joey.

Ever since PE, not a single minute did Joey _not_ talk about -what he had dubbed- The Record of a Lifetime. Yugi had gone from a barely average PE student to second best of his classmates. His teacher was exstatic about it, but he was more impressed with the impressive improvement Yugi had made in such a short time. Their previous test had been a few weeks ago and Yugi had passed that as he usually did, barely average and right now he was in the top of not only his class, but his year.

As happy as his teachers and his friends were, yugi didn't share their joy. In fact, Yugi was rather freaked out. He didn't work out at all -unless you were counting his many adventures- and this sudden improvement wasn't normal. Yugi couldn't stop the slight hurt at his friends lack of worry to surface. Didn't they think it strange in the least?

"My Friend, top athlete extraordinaire...!"

Yugi tried to ignore Joey's relentless praising and advertising of his recent success. Yugi might feel upset about this newest evolvement in his life, but he was also happy to see his friends more lively. He blamed ihmself for worrying them and preventing them from bouncing back from losing Atem. If it wasn't for his unexplainable behaviour, they would all remember Atem with a happy smile and move on, waiting for the day they might meet him again. Instead Yugi he'd dragged them down to his level.

So as irritating a sit was getting, Yugi couldn't resist an inward smile at his friends' antics.

"My Friend, a barely average by choice is no more. Now Yugi Muto is rising to the top, beating all in his way. Watch out for your pedestals up there, My Friend is coming!"

Average by choice. It was a simple wayward comment from Joey, but it made Yugi think. Before, when Atem was still his Yami, Yugi never let him take over in PE despite the spirit offering his help. He didn't seem to understand that Yugi wasn't suffering in PE but simply trying his hardest to improve himself, no matter how difficult it was. Yugi had his limits and they weren't even close to what the spirit's limits were.

But he was gone now, he couldn't have caused Yugi's sudden increased limits. Or could he? Yugi tried to remember to a time before he got the puzzle but those memories were not nearly as solid as his memories of the last five years, when he got friends, the best friends. Was Yugi a barely average as well before he met Atem? If the spirit's leaving caused such an increase, did that mean he had been holding Yugi back?

Yugi abruptly stopped walking, causing Ryou to bump into him. "Yugi?" he inquired timidly even though he had nothing to fear from Yugi or the others. It was just Ryou's character, to always seem to be walking on eggshells.

"I'm alright, Ryou," Yugi replied as cheerfully as he could. Ignoring the questioning looks of Tea and Tristan, Yugi put on a smile and hastened after Joey who was completely oblviious to the fact he was now walking alone as he spouted off more praises and titles for Yugi.

Yugi easily feel back in step behind Joey on their way to the roof for their break between fourth and fifth hour. His body on autopilot, Yugi returned to his thoughts. He had felt angry and betrayed for a moment, but he couldn't blame the spirit, couldn't blame Atem, his friend, his other half. Perhaps in the beginning when they didn't trust each other yet, perhaps then Atem could have done that, but it didn't feel like he had. Yugi didn't believe it.

It could very well have been the simple fact of two minds being too heavy a burden for one body. Or perhaps the stress of their changing places, or the shadow magic Atem used when in control. It wasn't Atem's fault.

That's what it all came down to, though. Atem was not at fault. Not for what was happenign to Yugi now, nor for wanting to go home to his family, even if that meant death. Yugi finally admitted to himself that in the very beginning he had felt a little depressed over Atem. Perhaps that had made him vulnerable for whatever happened next to him, cause Yugi knew deep down that something else was going on to make him so jumpy, so paranoid.

He could control it better now. Rather than showing outwardly how paranoid he was feeling, he now simply payed attention to everything around him, calming his nerves by doing so and in turn no longer worrying his friends with his behaviour. He could name every person currently within a ten metre radius, he knew how many windows and doors were open in the hallway, he could almost feel every person that passed by and so much more.

It freaked him out for sure, his unnerving awareness of his surroundings, his increased stamina. But he kept it hidden from the outside. He didn't want to worry anyone, especially his friends, more than he already had.

In front of him Joey continued to shout cheerfully about the new record of Yugi Muto.

"Yugi is the best. He'll even knock ... off his pedestal soon!"

Lost in his thoughts, Yugi didn't see the glaring eyes following his retreat.

/ - /

At last the final bell rang through the school. Abruptly all the students in the classroom -literally- jumped out of their seat and left as if their lives depended on it, which for a teenager was exactly that. Yugi and Ryou calmly began gathering their stuff -which their classmates had secretly been doing for the last ten minutes- all the while smiling at their classmates hurried retreat to salvage what was left of their afternoon. Eight hour school days were not celebrated among many students.

"You're coming to the Arcade, Ryou?" Yugi asked, though his tone suggested he thought Ryou was already coming. Noticing Ryou suddenly slowing down in gathering his stuff, yugi looked up to see a hesitant expression on his friends' face.

"I don't think so, Yugi," Ryou began and upon seeing Yugi's confused expression he hurried to explain, "I don't want to intrude on you guys. You're all good friends and I don't want to- ."

"Ryou!" Yugi abruptly interrupted his friend. "You're as much our friend, my friend as the others. You've been in the same situations as us and we fought together and you are now my friend."

"We also fought against each other." Ryou solemnly admitted.

Yugi felt a rush of emotions and was shocked to recognise anger in there, but most of it was sadness. "Ryou, that wasn't your fault and no matter how much you punish yourself, I will never hold any of that against you. If you think I should ditch you simply because a spirit forced you to attack me, then logically I should ditch Joey as well. And Tristan and Tea... ," Yugi paused to gauge Ryou's reaction and was pleased to see he was starting to understand.

"I see. Well I guess I could stop by, but I have to see my Physics teacher for a moment. You go ahead, I'll catch up."

Yugi hesistated for a moment but shook himself free of his unease whihc had come out of nowhere. "Alright Ryou. See you later," Yugi replied as cheerfully as he could and luckily Ryou seemed to fall for it. He gave no indication that he'd noticed Yugi's unease and with a final wave at the door, Ryou left.

Yugi rubbed a hand over his face as if that would get rid of his growing unease. He couldn't explain where it had come from, why he was feeling it all of a sudden. He quickly gathered his remaining school books and hurried out of the school.

He was just down the steps from the front entrance, still on school grounds, when his unease evolved into feeling threatened. Out of nowhere he felt an overwhelming urge to turn around and when he did he saw a fist coming his way. Instinctively he closed his eyes believing he could not possibly avoid contact with it, but his body seemed to move on its own. He felt like he was falling, like sometimes happens in a dream, and as he snapepd his eyes open, he found himself standing several feet to the left.

"Damn it!"

The angry voice drewn his attention and Yugi watched as a boy around his age stumbled and tried to regain his balance. He did so quickly and immediately swerved around to face Yugi, his eyes like daggers as he locked gazes with him. And Yugi recognized him.

"Noboru?"

"Don't you dare speak my name, _Yugi Muto!_" He spat Yugi's name as if it were an offense. "You think you're such a good guy, have your friends galavanting around you like you're some high and mighty prince! You, _Yugi_ are nothing but a maggot!"

Yugi ignored the stabbing hurt at those words and focussed on getting to the bottom of this. "What are you talking about? What did I do?"

Noboru laughed, a maniacal and cruel laugh. "You did nothing, nothing except ruin _everything!"_ He spat angrily. "All of a sudden, _Yugi Muto _gets all the attention and becomes the best _athlete_! I know you _Yugi_ and you are nothing but a pathetic excuse for a human being. You cheated your way to the top!"

Yugi felt hsi insides freeze. Did Noboru know of Yami -no, Atem. That wasn't possible, was it? And even so, Yugi never cheated. Atem may have aided him in their duels, but Yugi proved in that final duel that he could do it on his own, not that he wanted to. He wanted Atem, his friend, his brother, his other half. Tears started to prick at his eyes, something that hadn't happened in a few weeks.

Distracted as he was, Yugi never noticed Noboru's companion sneaking up on him. He fell face forward onto the ground, just barely managing to catch himself with his hands before he smashed his face open, but the force had knocked the air out of his lungs and Yugi gasped a few times as he tried to recover his wits.

A hand suddenly grabbed his chin and pulled his head up, forcing his neck into a painful bend. Noboru glared at him, though there was definitely amusement in his expression. "No one takes my spotlight, not even the famous _Yugi Muto_!" Without warning he hauled Yugi on his feet and without pausing punched him in the gut. Yugi doubled over but before he could fall on his knees, his arms were roughly pulled behind his back by Dax.

"It's been a while since you've had a beating, isn't _Yugi_?" Noboru inquired almost cheerfully.

Yugi's mind flashed back to the day when Joey and Tristan bullied him but then Yugi protected them against Ushio, the biggest bully of Domino. Ushio had it in for Yugi for a long time, but ever since Yugi stood up for Joey and Tristan and became friends with them, Ushio ceased to be a problem. Sure he could take all three of them, but Ushio was never one to bother if it was even remotely troublesome to him.

"I think it's time we did something about that, don't you agree?" Noboru continued oblivious to Yugi's lack of attention.

And unexplainable anger rushed through Yugi's veins. The unfairness of Noboru singling him out, the cowardly act of bringing Dax as back-up when Noboru knew that Yugi couldn't possibly do him any harm. Yugi wasn't a fighter, he may have tried to protect others, but even by protecting he never physically fought. And Noboru knew this! Despite that he still outnumbered Yugi and made Dax hold him just in case Yugi would lash out in defense.

Yugi felt the anger boiling inside him ready to erupt like a volcano and for the first time in his life, Yugi let go of all restraints. A feral scream tore from his throat startling Noboru and abruptly Yugi flung his head backwards with enough force to dazzle Dax, if only for a few seconds. The hold on his arms losened slightly and Yugi immediately took the chance to free his arms. He only succeeded in freeing one arm before Dax recovered.

"Hold him you idiot!" Noboru shouted angrily, but Yugi could detect a hint of shock in his voice and that made Yugi feel smug.

Noboru's shadow descended on Yugi quickly, but Yugi knew he was coming. He sensed his approach and without a single thought to his actions, Yugi swung his free fist towards him. A resounding crack was heard and Noboru stumbled backwards his hands covering his face. Yugi vaguely registered a stinging sensation in his hand, but his entire focus was on Noboru.

The honorless coward was howling in what seemed pain as he held his face and blood started to seep through his fingers. Surprise filled Yugi as he realized what he had done. He had broken Noboru's nose! He felt Dax tightening his hold on his left arm -the arm still trapped- and the pain in his hand which Yugi had barely noticed before was now drowned out by the sudden pain in his left arm which was being twisted in an impossible angle. Dax was trying to break his arm!

"ENOUGH!"

The voice came from behind followed by many footsteps, but neither Dax nor Nonobur seemed to pay it any attention. Only Yugi who sought any distraction from the pain in his arm, listened intendly to the commanding voice that came closer.

"I SAID ENOUGH!"

His arm was suddenlt wrenched free and Yugi curled it against his body immediately. A hand gently moved him backwards and Yugi didn't fight it. As he looked up he saw several teachers surrounding them and separating the three. Mr. Katsuro was looking worriedly at Yugi while Arata and a few others were taking care of Noboru and Dax.

"His nose is broken." Arata informed the group as he stood beside Noboru who had gone from howling to whimpering. "I better get him to the infirmary." And with that Noboru and Arata disappeared back into the school, leaving only Dax, Yugi, Mr. Katsuro and some other teacher whom Yugi didn't remember the name of.

"What happened here?" Mr. Katsuro calmly, but firmly asked both boys.

"It was him, sir! Yugi Muto punched Noboru, sir!" Dax was quick to diverge blame to Yugi, but Mr. Katsuro was a fair man and would not believe anything blindly.

"And what were his reason for doing so, if it is indeed the truth?" Dax seemed taken aback, probably expecting the man to immediately accept the story without further investigating.

"I..well.. he's nuts. He just went beserk!" As unbelievable as his stumbling statement was, Yugi couldn't hold back his unneccessary defence.

"You're lying! You both ambushed me! You're the one who went beserk!"

"Enough the both of you!" Silence reigned for a minute as Yugi silently fumed at the unfairness of the whole situation and Dax stood bored opposite him.

Yugi chanced a glance at his teacher only to see the man was looking back at him with confused if not surprised eyes. Yugi was reminded again of how different his behaviour was lately. The Yugi from before would have never verbally lashed out like this, nor would he have punched another person no matter what they did to him. And how was he even able to break Noboru's nose or hurt Dax for that matter? He felt like a completely different person all of a sudden and it scared him.

Yugi nodded automatically at Katsuro's statement of detention and informing parents, in Yugi's case his grandpa. Yugi hardly registered the world around him as he hastened out of school grounds in a daze, a fearful daze. He feared the person he was turning into, he feared what would happen next. Yugi was even more afraid when he realized that despite his hazy state of mind, he still knew exactly where he was, how many people and animals were nearby and how far home was, exactly. How could he be aware of everything when his mind was hazy and detached?

In his hurry, Yugi missed his friend Ryou standing on the stairs to the school entrance, looking worriedly after him.

/ - /

Yugi stood systematically wiping down the counter in the game shop, eyes downcast, shoulders slumped and an outward feel of a scolded puppy. At least that is how he looked to Tea when she had seen him through the shops' window. While Joey, Tristan and Ryou occupied Grandpa at the door -for the old man would not allow Yugi to see anyone after Yugi's apparent _fight_ earlier, which they had heard about from Ryou- Tea had carefully manoevred herself away from the group and snuck a peek through the window.

Yugi looked more down than Tea'd ever seen him and she could understand. Solomon Muto wasn't just any grandpa to Yugi and even them all. They all felt like the man was a part of their entire group and the very thought of him lecturng you, or perhaps it's the look of disappointment he can carry so well, it's horrible when you face it and makes you feel very bad.

As much as Tea would have liked to talk to Yugi -as would the others- she could understand how Grandpa Muto wouldn't want that right now. In a way he was punishing Yugi by not allowing him to see his friends then. The rest of the punishment was probably Yugi cleaning the shop considering that he was doing just that when they arrived.

With the promise that they could see Yugi at school tomorrow, the group was easily thwarted and dismissed, though in a gentle way cause Grandpa Muto saw them all as his _kids_ and he was a gentle soul. If he wasn't, he would have punished Yugi with much more than cleaning the shop and denying his friends entrance for one evening.

So Tea had dragged a resisting Joey away from the shop and all of them shouted loudly before the door closed; "We'll see you tomorrow Yugi!"

/ - /

"Yugi, my boy," Solomon called out as he entered the shop. He noticed Yugi tense up for a moment as if taken by surprise or perhaps he was simply jumpy around him now as any kid would be with their parent when scolded. Nevertheless Yugi turned around to face him, only his head was downcast for whihc Solomon felt extremely guilty. Yugi was always a happy child and had only changed a little when Atem left, but he'd been doing a little better recently and Solomon felt guilty for squishing his grandsons' mood by having to act the parent. He hoped they would get past this soon.

"Grandpa...?" The hesitant call had Solomon focus on the moment again and he tried his hardest not to envelop Yugi in a tight hug.

"Yugi, I need you to post this letter. I know it's late and I wouldn't send you if it weren't so important, but if I don't send it now, it won't get there in time."

"It's okay grandpa," Yugi asnwered in a soft voice. "It's still early in the evening and it will be light out for a while longer."

Grandpa gave Yugi a hesitant smile which Yugi returned. Then his boy left the shop, letter in hand.

/ - /

At last the sun was setting properly, the bright lit evening turning darker by the minute. Yugi wasn't afraid in the dark, but neither was he a fool to wander around outside in the dark. He'd just posted his grandpa's letter and was making his way back home, but he begrudgingly realized he wouldn't make it before dark. Unless he took a shortcut.

Despite his aversion to alleyways -as he'd been bullied in them plenty in his life- Yugi turned away from the main road and into an alleyway that would cut off a lot and get him home on time. He'd only gotten halfway through when he suddenly stilled. Something felt off, really off about this alley. The dark shadows surrounding him seemed almsot alive, as if pulsing with a heartbeat. Yugi was about tos cold himself for his irrational fear when everything changed.

The air got heavy around him and the scraps of light that fought their way into this palce were disappearing as if in a vacuum as unimprenetable darkness enveloped him. He felt as if the walls were pressing in on him and his breating sounded loud, heavy and far too fast to his own ears. And yet everything else, every other sound one expects to hear outside on the street, seemed awfully absent as if the world around him had turned mute.

Yugi felt it then. The undeniable feeling that he wasn't alone. Something was hear, hiding in the darkness -maybe it was even the reason for the dark- creeping stealthily around him.

Would it attack him? Or leave him alone?

What was it? Why wa sit here? What did it want? Was it even a _what_ and not perhaps a _who_?

Was Yugi a coincidence? A Chance encounter not expected but an acceptable consolation prize?

A shrill sound suddenly flushed through his ears, pounding in his skull, bringing tears to his eyes as he grabbed at hsi head in a futile attempt to rid himself of the pain. Yugi hardly noticed it when he crashed down onto his knees, bending double with his head on the ground as he sat there all alone, screaming.

When had he started screaming? Yugi couldn't tell. All he could do was scream and writhe on the ground in the dark, silently begging it to stop. What specifically he didn't even know anymore. The pain? The change over the months? The worried glances from his friends and grandpa? The heartache over losing his best friend?

Yugi didn't know and when darkness took him he lost the chance to decide.

TBC

* * *

><p><strong>Oh I know, horrible cliffhanger, but I couldn't resist and it had been planned a while back so, too bad for you guys. I hope you'll forgive me for taking longer than I promised. I posted on my profile that I would try to get this out on Friday or Saturday, well it turned into Sunday.<strong>

**Well this chapter turned out longer than I intended, though luckily not as long as chapter two. that chapter was unqiue with the way it took control of me.I apologise for any grammar and spelling mistakes, I was rushing to get this chapter out since I promised yesterday and didn't ahve the chance yet to reread it. I will do that, soon.  
><strong>

**Next time on Chosen Lineage [I can't write very much here like last time, cause it would give stuff away]: **Yugi doesn't come home and a suspicious person arrives in Domino.

Next Chapter Title:_** Unbidden Knowledge**_

**Please Review, it would mean a lot to me. **


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